Following the Arrest of Unocoin Founder, NASSCOM President Claims Cryptocurrency is Illegal

Following the Arrest of Unocoin Founder, NASSCOM President Claims Cryptocurrency is Illegal

Nasscom president Debjani Ghosh on Thursday said cryptocurrencies were illegal in India urging players to comply with the law and seek clarification from the government if they are unhappy with it. Following the arrest of the representatives of a leading cryptocurrency exchange for running a Bitcoin (BTC) ATM, Debjani Ghosh, came out with a very radical

Nasscom president Debjani Ghosh on Thursday said cryptocurrencies were illegal in India urging players to comply with the law and seek clarification from the government if they are unhappy with it.

Following the arrest of the representatives of a leading cryptocurrency exchange for running a Bitcoin (BTC) ATM, Debjani Ghosh, came out with a very radical statement regarding cryptocurrencies, stating its illegal.

The IT industry association, whose remit includes safeguarding technology startups in India against regulatory and legal hurdles, has instead urged the nascent crypto sector to take up any grievances directly with the government.

However, Ghosh noted that the “illegal” status of crypto is the result of the government’s failure to keep up with innovation:

“The genesis of this problem, however, lies in the failure of policy-making not keeping pace with rapid technological changes. NASSCOM’s focus would be to say, how do you synergize technological development and policy making. I think that will be our focus.”

Founders of Unocoin, Sathvik Viswanath and B V Harish were recently arrested for opening Bitcoin ATM in the city in violation of RBI norms, police said. Ghosh said Nasscom had not gone into the details of the Unocoin case and were waiting for it.

Across India, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) are not legally recognized as payment methods or financial instruments. However, the Indian authorities have not deemed digital assets as illegal, either.

However, Nasscom is looking into the matter and trying to understand it to have some clarity in terms of guidelines for startups,” Ghosh added.